The second layoff, the scale or nearly 1,000 people, Guangben has to live a hard life?

Chekansha

2024-05-15 18:58Published in Shanghai

After the first layoff at the end of last year, Hiromoto has waved the sickle of layoffs.

At the end of November last year, the news of Hiromoto's layoffs was exposed, but later Hiromoto said that only some labor dispatch employees were laid off, and regular employees were not affected.

Half a year later, Hiromoto began to expand the scope of layoffs to regular employees. It is reported that since May, Guangben has launched a large-scale layoff in the form of a step-by-step notice, and the scale is expected to be thousands of people.

Everything has traces to follow, throughout the past year, its performance has declined sharply, capacity utilization rate has declined, under the influence of today's price war, Guangben wants to avoid unnecessary losses, layoffs is the fastest and most direct method.

Expanded layoffs?

It is reported that since May, Guangben has launched a large-scale layoff in the form of a step-by-step notice, and the scale is expected to be thousands of people.

Relevant insiders said that this is an overall layoff, involving multiple lines, and the resignation process has been started internally, mainly based on voluntary resignation, and there will be corresponding compensation, "At present, many employees have begun to have a physical examination before leaving." Relevant insiders also revealed, "It is expected that the layoffs will continue until August, but May is more concentrated." ”

The layoffs will not only involve Hiromoto, but also Honda's other joint ventures in China.

According to Nikkei Asia, Honda is downsizing its full-time production staff in China due to declining sales, and about 1,700 workers have agreed to leave their jobs, accounting for about 14% of its total production workforce. In addition, Honda may also reduce the number of days of operation at its factories in June.

Honda's two joint ventures in China, Guangben and Dongben, have been operating at full capacity in the past, but since last year, they have been declining. Among them, GAC's annual report shows that in 2023, Guangben's production capacity during the reporting period will be 651,200 units, and the capacity utilization rate will be 84.57%. In 2022, Guangben's capacity utilization rate will be close to 100%, reaching 99.71%.

Half a year ago, Guangben had just experienced a layoff turmoil. According to Nikkei Chinese Network and other media reports, Japanese automaker Honda Motor said that its joint venture in China, Guangqi Honda, laid off 900 employees, and the reason for the layoffs was the rapid shift to the electric vehicle market.

According to reports, Guangqi Honda's approximately 13,000 employees accounted for 6.9% of the layoffs. However, Guangqi Honda also clarified that this time it was a labor dispatch personnel involved, and regular employees were not affected, and Guangqi Honda would compensate contract workers who left early.

The layoffs are also considered to be the first layoffs in the 25-year history of Guangqi Honda.

Wide, green and yellow

Guangben has a realistic need for layoffs.

Poor performance is the main reason. In 2023, Guangqi Honda will sell 640,000 units, a year-on-year decrease of 13.66%. During the reporting period, Guangben's operating income was 93.528 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 18.75%.

Since the beginning of this year, Guangben's sales have continued to decline. Guangben's sales in April were 33,500 units, a sharp decrease of 44.6% year-on-year compared with 60,498 units in April last year. In the first four months of this year, Guangben's cumulative sales were 141,900 units, a year-on-year decrease of 20.5%.

Once upon a time, Guangben's leading flower, Accord, could only be forced to exchange price for volume and offer a discount of 40,000 yuan to barely maintain the sales performance of 10,000 vehicles.

According to this trend, Guangqi Honda's annual sales may decline to about 500,000 units in 2024. As a comparison, previously, Guangben had set a goal of annual sales of more than one million.

It is an indisputable fact that the decline in performance has accelerated in all aspects.

In order to reverse the downward trend, Guangben chose to bet on new energy.

At the recent Beijing Motor Show, Guangqi Honda officially launched the e:NP2, the second pure electric model of the Honda brand. In addition, the new Accord e:PHEV and the all-new Shadow e:PHEV were also exhibited.

Moreover, Guangben has also brought in domestic companies such as Huawei and iFLYTEK to make up for the shortcomings of intelligence.

In terms of new vehicles, according to Yuan Xiaohua, deputy general manager of Guangqi Honda, "the new electric brand products with the new intelligent and efficient pure electric 'W' architecture will cooperate with leading companies such as Huawei and iFLYTEK to continuously enrich vehicle functions and provide highly scalable FoD services." In 2024, Guangqi Honda will equip the Accord with Honda SENSING 360+ for the first time in the world, further upgrading its active safety performance. ”

In addition, last month, Honda also held a new electric brand launch conference, officially unveiling the new electric brand "Ye" specially launched for the Chinese market.

This time, the "Ye" brand launched three new models - Ye S7, Ye P7, and Ye GT CONCEPT. Among them, the first two models will be launched by the end of 2024, and industry predictions may be that Dongfeng Honda and Guangqi Honda will be put into production respectively.

It is understood that the new cars under the Ye brand will be based on Honda's pure electric W architecture specially built for electric vehicles, and it is planned to launch 6 new cars by 2027.

It can be seen that Guangben is ready for the new energy competition. It includes hybrid models such as the e:NP series, the "Ye" brand, and traditional models such as the Accord.

Guangqi Honda previously announced that it will no longer launch new pure fuel models from 2027, and from 2035, all Honda models sold in China will be 100% electrified.

However, Wangmei alone can't quench his thirst, and Hiromoto still needs to have the strength to reach the end. It is imperative that Guangben quickly improve its current sales performance, otherwise, this layoff may only be the beginning.

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